Leclerc waiting, hoping for phone call

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was late Monday night and Justin Leclerc admitted that his head still was spinning.
More than 24 hours had passed since he had been cut loose by the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and, he said, “I don’t think it has really sunk in yet.”
On Saturday night, Leclerc, a 20-year-old goaltender, stopped 40 shots through overtime and five more in a shootout to help the Blazers beat the Bruins 4-3 in Chilliwack.
On Sunday morning, he was called into general manager Craig Bonner’s office and told the Blazers were going in a different direction. Suddenly, Leclerc was a man without a team. Bonner told him he had been placed on waivers.
Leclerc, from Saskatoon, was into his third season with the Blazers after having been acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes prior to the 2007-08 season.
“Yeah, it was pretty shocking,” Leclerc said of his meeting with Bonner. “He didn’t really give me a reason and I don’t think you every really have to. He didn’t even say there was another 20-year-old goalie coming in; he just said someone’s coming in.”
That other goalie is Kurtis Mucha, 20, who was acquired Sunday from the Portland Winterhawks for a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft.
Asked if he found it strange to be replaced by another 20-year-old, Leclerc said: “I’m sure (Bonner) has his reasons but . . . each to his own. I guess it is surprising, especially since Jon (Groenheyde) is playing so well.”
Leclerc and Groenheyde, 18, were into their second season as the Blazers’ goaltending tandem.
Leclerc said concerns about his traditional slow starts were expressed in early-season meetings with then-head coach Barry Smith.
“I have never started out of the gate well,” Leclerc admitted, after a farewell dinner with defenceman Giffen Nyren, who was traded to the Calgary Hitmen on Monday. “This season, battling with Jon sparked me to have a good start.”
The Blazers, backed by strong goaltending, started 7-1-2-0 and, at one point, were leading the Western Conference. But they were doing it with smoke and mirrors. In Games 7 through 10, although they went 2-0-2-0, they gave up 200 shots. Three of the games went to overtime and the Blazers were outshot 20-0 in extra time.
“Then the team started to slide,” Leclerc said, “and you look at any guy in the dressing room and no one was playing well while we struggled. (When that happens), no one looks like they’ve been playing well.
“But I thought through that the goaltenders kind of held up their end for the most part.”
If no one claims him this morning, Leclerc will clear waivers and become a free agent.
“I don’t know where the future is going right now,” he said. “So I don’t really know . . . I think it’ll be more sunk in once I end up wherever I’m headed.”
Leclerc’s first choice is to “play somewhere in the Western league. If that doesn’t happen, probably somewhere in the BCHL. I don’t know . . . it’s kind of wide open after that. I’m kind of waiting and hoping that I’ll end up somewhere in the (WHL).”
With more than four seasons in the WHL under his belt, he has a fair amount of education money owing him, something he said he wouldn’t be prepared to throw away for a risky run at the pro game.
“But I think there are some exceptions where you can sign an amateur tryout contract or something like that,” he said. “There is always that type of thing and I’d be willing to entertain any type of offer.”
In the meantime, Leclerc will say goodbye to friends here and then he said he will journey to Nanaimo. He has been invited to practise with the BCHL’s Clippers.
By coincidence, the Clippers are in the market for a goaltender, having lost Mark Segal, 18, to the Vancouver Giants just last week.
“I haven’t committed to them,” Leclerc said. “It depends on who does what and when, but that is definitely an option.”
Ironicially, one of the Clippers’ owners is Bill Gallacher, who also owns the Winterhawks, the team from which the Blazers acquired Leclerc’s replacement.
JUST NOTES: The Blazers are at home to the Kootenay Ice on Friday, 7 p.m., and C Dalibor Bortnak has been cleared to play. Bortnak, 18, suffered a spleen injury on Aug. 25 and has yet to play this season. . . . Mucha and D Ryan Funk, who was acquired Monday from the Vancouver Giants, both practised with their new team for the first time yesterday. . . . F Todd Kennedy, 19, who was a sixth-round bantam draft pick of the Blazers in 2005, has been traded by the Vancouver Giants to the Tri-City Americans for a 13th-round 2010 draft pick.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com